US downplays Iraqi rebel attack on US-Iraqi base (AFP)

(I think this is the "New Strategy," deny that anything bad is happening in Iraq, and act like it's the finally time to pull out the troops, just in time for the 2006 Elections.)

US downplays Iraqi rebel attack on US-Iraqi base

01/12/2005 18h50

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Rebels attacked a US-Iraqi base in the restive western city of Ramadi, hours after the US president outlined his strategy for winning the war in Iraq but refused to set a timeline for withdrawal. The attack also came as Washington demanded the immediate release of American hostage Thomas Fox, abducted with three other Westerners over the weekend, reiterating that it does not negotiate with kidnappers.

Residents of Ramadi said that rebels fired mortars and rockets at the base and then roamed briefly through the streets, posting al-Qaeda leaflets. Al-Qaeda issued an unverifiable Internet statement saying its fighters "were able to control a big part of the city of Ramadi after launching a new blessed conquest."

US military officials in Baghdad dismissed such reports as "spurious," maintaining that there was little more than a single rocket attack on a checkpoint at 9:30 am local time. "So the idea that there is this massive uprising in insurgents in Ramadi to have retaken control of the town is incorrect," said coalition forces spokesman Major General Rick Lynch.

According to Lynch, Ramadi is becoming more secure due to a set of joint US-Iraqi operations against the insurgents, the latest called Operation Tigers, "designed to ensure that the people of Ramadi can participate in the democratic process," he told reporters. The main Sunni political coalition, however, said that it would be easier for people to vote in these towns if the US forces pulled out during the election.

<http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/051201185052.ok8nfnwe.html>

(more at link above)